S.A. artist looks at HemisFair's artistic vision

Updated 9:23 pm, Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Stuart Allen will develop the art program within HemisFair Park's “PlayEscape” area.

Stuart Allen will develop the art program within HemisFair Park's “PlayEscape” area.

Photo: SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

S.A. artist looks at HemisFair's artistic vision

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SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio artist Stuart Allen has been selected to develop the art program within HemisFair Park's “PlayEscape” area — 7 acres in the southwest corner of the park.

Allen serves as project manager for Confluence Park. Among his public art projects are the colorful panels along the Museum Reach at McCullough and Brooklyn avenues.

Allen won't necessarily create the art — supplements to a jungle gym, splash water zone and other planned play components. Rather, he'll help select the artists and guide them toward the overarching theme of discovery.

He'll be working with a $250,000 budget, good for up to eight installations. The preference will be toward local artists, he said.

“We're more interested in the sort of discovery moments than a monumental piece of steel that is just sort of occupying space in an uninteresting way,” Allen told the Public Art Board Tuesday. “That doesn't mean pieces couldn't be of considerable size.”

Construction on the PlayEscape (a working name) is set to begin in June and will be completed in May 2015. The first phase is funded with $5.5 million from the 2012-17 bond program. HemisFair Park planners have said funding for the second phase would likely come through philanthropy.